[the-facts-machine] Office Depot and Support.com to pay $35 million to settle charges of a tech scam; and How to Protect Yourself from a Tech Scam

From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <the-facts-machine@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 1 Apr 2019 16:03:48 -0400

BlankOffice Depot and Support.com to pay $35 million to settle charges of a tech scam .

Naturally, given the rising flood of adware, spyware and sophisticated phishing attempts to access our personal data, people are scared and increasingly willing to pay for protection. But this fear of being hacked was allegedly the hook used by Office Depot, its subsidiary OfficeMax and a California-based tech-support vendor to dupe customers into paying for computer repair and technical services they didn't need, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Although not admitting any wrongdoing, Office Depot and California-based Support.com have agreed to pay $35 million to settle the claim that they deceived customers into believing their computers were infected with malicious malware and were vulnerable to other security threats. The FTC alleged that, from at least 2009 to late 2016, the companies would offer customers a free "PC Health Check Program" to determine whether their computers had any performance problems. But the real purpose of the checkup was to aggressively sell diagnostic and repair services to customers that, in many cases, they didn't need, according to Claire Wack, an attorney in the FTC's division of marketing practices and the lead attorney on the case.

Office Depot and Support.com -- which remotely provided the technical support services -- allegedly drove sales by programming the PC checkup to report a repair was necessary whenever a customer answered yes to any one of four questions asked, including whether the person's computer was experiencing frequent pop-up ads, according to the FTC complaint. Consumers were then encouraged to purchase repair services that could cost more than $300.

To their credit, it appears some Office Depot employees complained about the ruse, the FTC lawsuit said.

"I cannot justify lying to a customer or being TRICKED into lying to them for our store to make a few extra dollars," one employee wrote to OfficeMax's corporate management. In 2013, one Office Depot employee told the Florida attorney general's office the company was using a software program that "will make consumers believe their computer has a virus," according to the FTC. A year later, yet another employee told management the PC checkup program "finds malware symptoms but independent scans reveal no issues.

"Despite these complaints and concerns, the Office Depot Companies instructed its store employees to continue to advertise the free tune-up service, continue to run PC Health Check Program on computers brought into the stores, and to convert 50 percent or more of all PC Health Check runs into tech-support service sales," the FTC complaint said.

Store employees who met weekly tech-support sales goals received positive performance reviews, promotions and extra commissions. However, those who didn't meet the corporate-imposed goals were singled out and chastised, according to the FTC report. Management "censured store managers and store employees who continually failed to meet these company-wide targets," the FTC said.

And does this sound familiar?

"The Office Depot Companies also launched incremental profit generating initiatives whereby it instructed its stores collectively to raise millions of dollars in profit by increasing the number of PC Health Check services performed and the rate of converting the PC Health Check services into tech-service sales," the FTC wrote in its complaint. You might recall a similar type of quota pushing led to the 2016 Wells Fargo scandal, in which the bank admitted employees were opening unauthorized credit card and bank accounts for customers. The employees had established the fake accounts in an effort to meet aggressive sales goals and qualify for bonuses.

In this new settlement, Office Depot has agreed to pay $25 million. Support.com will pay $10 million.

"While Office Depot does not admit to any wrongdoing regarding the FTC's allegations, the company believes that the settlement is in its best interest in order to avoid protracted litigation," the company said in a statement. The proposed settlement prohibits Office Depot and Support.com from deceptive practices that would make customers think their computers are infected.

The FTC said money collected from the companies would be used to give refunds to consumers. Once the judge formally approves the settlement orders, customers can check the FTC's refund Web page
( ftc.gov/enforcement/cases-proceedings/refunds )
to get information on what they may need to do to get a refund.

As consumers, we often deal with aggressive tactics by employees, who unbeknown to us, are under extreme pressure to meet certain quotas. The result is that many customers are persuaded to purchase products or services that they don't need and/or can't afford. Businesses need revenue to stay viable. We get that. But this recent action by the FTC is yet another reminder of what can happen when companies put unrealistic profit targets over the people they are supposed to be serving.

******
BBB Tip of the Week: A tech support scam with your IP address.

Its an oldie but a goody. The tech support scam is almost as old as computers and the internet itself.

Scammers prey on consumers -- scam that claims your IP address has been compromised.

Now Better Business Bureau is seeing an increasing number of these cons reported to BBB.org/ScamTracker . It just takes a few minutes to submit a Scam Tracker report, and your information could help others avoid this scam or others like it. Right now, there are two versions of the tech support scam hustling to get your identity, money or both.

How the scam works

In one version of the scam, a pop-up suddenly appears on your computer screen with an ominous warning from a well-known tech support company. The pop-up will ask you to call a number to resolve the issue. When you call, a technician will tell you your IP address is being used by shady individuals. In some reports, scammers claim child pornography websites are using your IP address and you could be held responsible for their actions.

(Steve's Note: I've had this happen on my computer, as well as those of a couple of my clients. It usually comes as a browser pop-up, and you can't close the browser or navigate away from that page. It threatens and says it will lock your computer in two minutes.
Best Solution: Try to shut down the browser process in the process manager that you can open with control-shift-escape; or, if you can't do that, just force your PC to shutdown and re-boot.)

In a second version of the scam, you simply receive a call out of the blue from someone making similar claims. In both cases, scammers say they work for a reputable company and can fix the problem but you'll need to pay a fee and give them remote access to your computer first.

Of course, the claims are false. If you believe them, scammers will make off with your money and gain access to any personal information stored on your computer.

How to protect yourself from computer scams

Never open attachments or links in emails from unknown senders. These can generate the fake warning pop-ups that prompt you to make a call to scammers.

If you do get a suspicious pop-up alert, dont click on anything and restart your computer.

Be wary of unsolicited calls. A common scam tactic is to make cold calls. Scammers then try to scare you into giving them access to your machine.

Dont fold under pressure; simply hang up the phone and block the number.

Never give strangers remote access to your computer. You should only allow remote access to technicians of trustworthy companies that you contacted through a legitimate customer service number or chat.

For more information

For more information on computer tech support scams, check out
http://www.BBB.org/TechSupportScam
as well as these videos and tips from the Federal Trade Commission.

If you've been the victim of a tech support scam, report it on the BBB Scam Tracker. By reporting your experience, you can help others avoid falling for the same scam.

[the-facts-machine] Office Depot and Support.com to pay $35 million to settle charges of a tech scam; and How to Protect Yourself from a Tech Scam

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